Worthy



Nro, 6I9,398. Patented Feb. I4, |899.

H. S. ELWRTHY. APPARATUS FDR GULLECTING CABONIC .ACID GAS;

(Application led Dec. 22, 1897.)

Fig- I- (No ModeL) 3mm/lion Herer JEZw0r7/7} (liften/mp.

Vterior by means of a small hole.

NITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

HERBERT SAMUEL ELWORTHY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING CARBONIO-ACID GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters :Patent No. 619,398, dated February 14, 1899. Application filed December 22, 1897. Serial No. 663,050. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, HERBERT SAMUEL EL- WORTHY, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at London, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented cert-ain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Collecting Carbonic Acid Gas from a Closed Vat or Tun; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertain to make use the same.

The invention relates to apparatus for collectin g carbonio-acid gas from a closed vat or tun; and it consists in the novel construction and combination of the parts of the apparatus hereinafter described and claimed.

I have heretofore obtained foreign patents in the following countries, viz: England, No. 22,248 of 1891; France, No. 224,808, dated August 10, 1892, and India, No. 68 of 1892.

The accompanying drawings are in illustration of the invention.

Where closed vats are used, l collect the gas under low pressure-say two or three inches water-pressure-by means of the following device, as illustrated in Figure 1:

The vat being hermetically closed by means of a cover, a screw-down lid, or other device at a a small bellows-shaped apparatus b is placed on and fastened air-tight to the cover d of the Vat, but communicating with the in- To the top of the bellows a rod or wire cis attached and passes down `through the hole in the cover of the vat, being fastened at its lower end to one arm of a lever d, the other end of which carries a valve e, which is held in its place by means of a spring f, or the lever may be loaded with an adjustable weight. When the gas in the vat attains a certain pressure regulated by means of the spring g or weight, the gas passing up through the hole in the cover expands the bellows b and, lifting the lever d, opens the valve e at the other end and allows the gas to escape, closing it again as the pressure falls. Over the valve e is placed an outlet-pipe g, leading to any simple form of low-pressure air-pump orfdoubleaction bellows or to a gas-holder, the pump drawing the gas from the vat or from the gasholder and passing it through the purifying apparatus.

For collecting the carbonio-acid gas from open fermenting vats or tuns the following device may be used:

A cover is provided made of any suitable material-such, for instance, as galvanized, buckled, or corrugated steel or iron platesof a rather larger diameter than the top of the vat and having a deep iiange or rim. Around the outside of the vat and a little below the top is fixed a deep narrow annular channel, into which the rim or flange of the cover fits loosely. This channel is partially filled with any suitable liquid-such as water, mercury, &c.-which acts as a lute or seal to prevent the escape of carbonio-acid gas and also the entrance of air into the vat, except under excessive pressures. The automatic regulator as described and illustrated above for closed vats may be attached to this cover, so as to collect the gas at any required pressure. This regulator being so arranged as to close automatically when the pressure in the vat falls below a certain fixed amount, no atmospheric air can enter the vat.

In order to reduce the number of covers required for a given number of vats or tun s, the covers maybe suspended by means of pulleys, blocks, and rollers or other suitable means to an overhead rail, whereby they can be transferred from one vat to another, as required.

. The purifying apparatus is arranged as follows: The gas is passed through a siphon gas-trap (such as those illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3) and thence, first, to a vertical cylinder fitted with an inlet-pipe for the gas and an outlet-pipe at the top and having also a device for sprinkling water, which may be caused to revolve by the issuing gas or by an external motor in the usual well-known Way, and the cylinder is also tted with charging and discharging manholes. This cylinder may oe filled with any vsuitable materialsuch as coke, charcoal, pumice-stone, iiints, &c.-over which the Water from the sprinkler is caused to flow slowly and continuously. The carbonio-acid gas being forced in at the bottom and passing upward is brought continually in contact With fresh water, whereby all the soluble impurities-such as alcohol,

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acetic ether, &c.are removed. The gas after passing through this scrubber is passed, second, through a second scrubber similar to the first and iitted similarly, but through which a melted fat or oil, preferably mineral oil, or a liquid hydrocarbon-such, for instance, as melted paraffin, wax, or vaselineas free as possible from odor and taste is made to flow instead of water. The gas passing upward through interstices of the coke or other material is broughtinto intimate contact with the oil or other substance, which, having a great afnity for the ethers, removes them from the gas. These ethers may be recovered from the fat or oil or hydrocarbon and utilized for the manufacture of fruit essences or other suitable processes and the oil purified by distilling themoff, preferably with steam, superheated, if necessary. rlhe alcohol may also be recovered from the first wash-water by any suitable means of the well-known kind. The carbonic-acid gas after passing through the two scrubbers above mentioned and containing now only mere traces of impurities and a certain amount of moisture is passed through a desiccator containing any suitable materialsuch as dry carbonate of potash, chlorid of calcium, sulfuric acid, or materials soaked in sulfuric acid, &c., but preferably carbonate of potash or chlorid of calcium. The desiccator consists of a vessel containing a number of shelves, preferably movable, over which the gas is compelled to iiow, the desiccating material being placed on these shelves, and the gas in passing over loses its moisture and escapes at the upper end nearly or quite dry. 1f preferred, two or more desiccating materials may be used either in separate vessels or on different shelves of the same vessel. These desiccating materials may also be recovered and used over again by driving off moisture either by direct fire or by passing a current of hot dry air over them. The latter process may be performed without removal of the substance from the desiccator. The dry carbonic-acid gas is now passed through a series of tubes or pipes, preferably cast-iron, arranged in a furnace and heated red-hot. The irst of these tubes'may contain coke, or metallic copper, or iron, or zinc, preferably in the form of turnings, to remove any traces of oxygen which the gas may contain. The other tubes contain oxid of copper or other easily-reducible oxid. I prefer to use, however, oxid of copper formed in the following manner: All the tubes except the first being closely filled with copper-turnings are heated to a red heat and a current of air is passed through them, whereby a coating of oxid is formed on the surface of the turnings, which oxid may be renewed in the same way wheneverit has become reduced. Copper Wire or copper nails may be substituted for the copper-turnings, or the ordinary commercial black oxid of copper may be used, or the oxid of copper may be formed in the pores and on the surface of a porous or fibrous material-such as iire-brick, pumice-stone, asbestos, or the like-by saturating the material with a solution of nitrate of copper or a solution of au inorganic salt of copper, such as the acetate, and then drying and finally decomposing the copper salt at a high temperature in the presence of air, the treatment being repeated, if necessary. Other chemical substances-such as chromate of lead, bichromate of potash or soda, binoxid of manganese, or other substance which at a high temperature parts with its oxygen in the presence of organic mattermay be substituted for the oxid of copper. When the carbonio-acid gas is brought into contact with the hot oxid of copper by being passed through the tubes containing it, all the remaining impurities are removed, being for the most part converted into carbonio-acid gas and water. The remaining impurities are removed for the purpose of obtaining a pure gas. The impurities generally present consist of ethers and alcohols of a higher boilingpoint than ordinary ethylic alcohol, and their removal is effected by their combination in contact with metallic oxid for the above-mentioned purpose of obtaining a pure carbonicacid gas. Should sensible traces of oxygen be found resulting from the decomposition of organic compounds containing this gas,it may be completely removed by placing a small amount of metallic copper in the shape of turnings, wire-gauze, or nails in the last tube. When the oxid of copper described is reduced by the action of the organic matter contained in the impure carbonio-acid gas, it may be completely regenerated by passing air over it, and the resulting hot air may be utilized for redrying the desiccating material. The carbonic-acid gas, now perfectly purified, may be cooled in an ordinary condenser and compressed or liquefied by any suitable compressor and placed in iron or steel bottles or other suitable holders for sale or use.

In large vats, such as are used by brewers, instead of a wooden or metallic cover the vats may be protected against contamination by atmospheric air by covering them with a Waterproof or oiled-canvas sheet, the edges of which are secured to the vat in any conven ient manner.

The gas may be run from the fermentingvats into a counterbalanced gas-holder of the usual kind, which itself acts as a regulator without intermediate gas-traps or regulatingvalves. Where the vats are at a higher level than the gas-holder, the carbonic-acid gas generated may be siphoned off into the gasholder, great care being taken to prevent any air from being mixed with the gas Withdrawn from the vats.

Figs. 2 and 3 represent two forms of gastraps, (where such are used,) the pressure being regulated by the level of the Water in the trap. rlhe baflie-plates 7L shown in Fig. 3 tend to dry the escaping gas, and similar plates may also be used in the apparatus shown in Fig. 2.

Having now particularly described and as- TOO IIO

certained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is- The herein-described apparatus for collecting carbonio-acid gas from aclosed vat or tun, the automatic apparatus consisting of the bellows b secured air-tight to the cover a of the closed vat or tun and communicating with said vat or tun through a small hole, a rod c attached at its upper end to the top of the bellows b and passed down through the hole in said cover, and fastened at its lower end to one end of the lever d fulcruined to the under side of the cover and connected at its other end with a valve e seated in the lower 15 end of the vertical pipe g, and the spring f connected at its lower end to the lever d between its fulcrurn and its connection with the valve e, and the thumb-nut on the upper face of the head of the tun or vat connected with zo 

